


End, Begin, All the Same

by mista_mista



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Gen, Kid Fic, Kidnapping, Lalafell Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, other characters mentioned but they aint got tags on here so rip to them, yes solus steals a child and he cant say he feels bad about it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-29
Updated: 2020-01-20
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:22:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21599116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mista_mista/pseuds/mista_mista
Summary: The Emperor of Garlemald, despite questions from his family and advisors, takes in a new ward.
Relationships: Solus zos Galvus | Emet-Selch & Warrior of Light, Zenos yae Galvus & Warrior of Light
Comments: 5
Kudos: 34





	1. prologue

**Author's Note:**

> work is un-betad as always so forgive mistakes please  
> title is from the dark crystal because we stan mother aughra and she inspired me and my amaurotian!wol but anyways!!  
> i had a thot so here we are.  
> no romance will happen between emet and the wol so dont be expecting that. the relationships in this fic will probably all be platonic but ive marked both emet % wol and zenos & wol down because thats who shes gonna be closest to in this fic,  
> emet takes in a young WoL and raises her with the plan of her helping them with the rejoining. however things dont always go according to plan BUT thats a problem for future emet and he'll deal with that then.  
> yes i named the rest of his family because i was tired of trying to write them without.

“Call the tailors immediately and send them to my chambers.”

These were the first words spoken by the emperor after his sudden disappearance. He had only just returned, descending from the aircraft looking every inch the Warrior he had once been, with a small bundle in his arms as the only thing to ruin the image. Solus zos Galvus held it close to his chest, letting no one see what was hidden by the familiar fabric.

His family, or what remained of it, stood to the side to greet him as was only proper.

Valeria, his wife, stood tall and regal, her greying hair done in an intricate style and her robes a deep red. Faustus, his only remaining son, was beside her. His blond hair shone in the setting sun and he looked as every royal should. On his wife’s other side were Varis and Zenos, his grandson and great grandson respectively.

Faustus walked forward to speak to him but Solus held his hand up. Varis tensed beside his grandmother and Zenos but his face stayed as emotionless as ever and he dare not spare a look at his great-uncle.

“What is it?” The Emperor asked, his voice harsh. He sounded impatient.

His son hesitated, just a brief flash of fear coming over his features before he schooled his expression. The man gave a salute before speaking. “Father, Your Radiance, if I may ask, where did you go?”

Solus quirked a brow. Quite bold of his son to question him, though he could not blame him, so he answered anyways. The hand he had raised waved slightly as if to brush aside his family’s concern and he could not help but smile. “I went to Ala Mhigo. There was something there that I had been looking for and I was told, after van Baelsar took the city, where it was.”

The Galvus’ all turned to stare at the bundle of cloth, suddenly realizing that whatever it was had been wrapped in the Emperor’s cloak. No one would ever admit it but the Emperor was a vain man. He took pride in every aspect of his appearance. A slightly disheveled image, let alone a ripped robe, would not be tolerated so most everyone present silently wondered what could have been so important that the Emperor had removed his own cloak to cover it.

Zenos, however, could not bring himself to care about any detail except the strange thing that was being hidden from him. As a child of only six, he was not yet skilled in hiding all of his desires or curiosity so it was plan to see he had other things on his mind. A hand on his shoulder was the only thing keeping him from getting closer to poke and prod at the fabric.

Then the bundle moved. 

It was only years of military training that kept most of them from jumping. Valeria, however, had no such training and so she stepped back a moment before walking to her husband’s side to look more closely at the creature. Years of being close had made her bold but Solus could not say that he hated it. 

Her fingers gently touched the fabric, eyes wide when it moved again. This time she could hear a soft sound coming from it and she glanced up at her husband.

Solus finally relented, still holding whatever it was tight to his chest, and reached down to move the fabric aside. 

Large brown eyes stared up at them, blinking slowly as if confused, and hands came up so it could hide behind them. 

“She’s a bit shy,” Solus spoke, his voice full of mirth that had not been there for years. He carefully moved the fabric a little more so they could all see. “Here, child, greet my family.”

An infant- no, not a baby, they realized after a closer look- a lalafellin child sat perched in the Emperor’s arms, her skin dirty and her clothes stained in ash. She looked as if she had been plucked straight from the fires burning in the city. The girl stared at her surroundings before her body began to shake and tears welled up. She quickly looked away from but seemed too scared to move much.

It seems she would not be greeting anyone right now. 

Solus sighed heavily at the tears that fell to dampen his clothes and he moved her so her face was pressed to his chest. She seemed to calm down slightly but her body still shook. Her hand worked into his shirt, clinging to him with a frantic strength. A gloved hand stroked her hair, a soothing gesture that was out of character for the dictator.

His family stared at their Emperor, waiting for an explanation. Solus’ eyes raised to meet his wife’s before focusing back on the small child. 

All was quiet for a moment, the girl crying silently and the Royal Family too afraid to speak.

“She is my ward now,” was all he said before he walked away. 

Everyone stood in shock, watching him walk away and listening to him mumble things to the child.


	2. questions, questions, too many questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the emperor has a talk with an old friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> decided to go ahead and post this because I had a bunch of this written in a word document  
> emet selch is not skilled in child care when that child stands between him and his bff who betrayed him thousands of years ago.  
> chapter title is a quote from mother aughra again because what can i say, she inspires me

“Styx, I tire of these games!” The voice echoed in the room but none outside could hear the shout. 

Solus zos Galvus, no, Emet-Selch had made sure no one would interrupt them. All sounds blocked from leaving the room and none could enter without his permission. 

His persona had dropped: no longer was he the Emperor of Garlemald, now, despite his appearance, he was Emet-Selch, Hades, Ascian.

He paced around the room, obviously frustrated at the only other occupant, a young lalafell of five years. The girl sat on a stool in front of the vanity staring up at him, eyes wide and hands clasped in front of her. 

“I- I do not,” Mororo’s voice was small, her words coming out in stutters and her eyes beginning to water. 

“You do! Styx!” Emet-Selch suddenly knelt in front of her, hands clenched as he studied her face for a sign, any sign! “Elidibus would not lie to me! Not in a matter such as this. You are who I say you are! There is no one else with this soul! Not on this shard!”

This conversation had been happening for days now. It repeated day after day and the patience Emet-Selch praised himself on was wearing thin. 

“My name isn’t,” Mororo whispered, tears finally falling. “My name isn’t Styx.”

“Do not!” He growled out the words, voice filling the room and sounding like it came from something old and powerful. Items on the walls shook and the lights seemed to dim. “You know who you are. The others remember and so must you!” 

The girl shook in front of him. Hands covering her face as sobs tore from her chest. 

Emet-Selch felt a small pang in his chest, his stomach tightening at the sight of the girl crying. He had been watching over her for a while now and he was growing... attached. Years ago, after his eldest son died, he said he would never grow to care for something so fragile. But this child, he reasoned, she was just a part, a piece, a vessel for one much older, one who was not fragile. 

Still, he reached out, his hand hovering a few ilms from her -

Suddenly, Mororo’s body went slack, head tilting back and hands dropping to her lap. Emet-Selch retracted his hand quickly, studying the girl. The tear streaks on her cheeks shone in the candlelight and her eyes were hazed over. She sat like that for just a moment, still as death and just as quiet, before light returned to her eyes just as suddenly as it had left. 

She blinked slowly, her vision readjusting before her gaze focused on him.

Wisdom beyond her years shone in her eyes and he knew. He knew! She was back. Finally! Styx has returned.

“Hades, stop this.”

Those words were not what he expected but he could not let his surprise show.

“Styx, you’ve finally decided to drop this charade, I see.”

The expression on the girl’s face was almost comical. Exhaustion not at home on one so young and the crease between her brows made her seem older than she appeared. Of course, she was. She was even older than he, old before he joined his brothers and sisters in the Conviction.

Emet-Selch stood back up to his full height but did not retreat.

“No,” she sighed heavily. Her small hands went to her face, gently touching the quickly drying tear tracks before wiping them with the edge of her sleeves. Her expression was familiar: one of displeasure that had been focused on him and his associates many times before. “I just could not stand by any longer and watch you yell at this child.”

“This child?” He scoffed. “She’s you. Well, a fraction of you at least. You’re more whole than most of the others are at least.”

Styx glared at him and he could not help the laugh that escaped him. Mororo had been an expressive child but this was too much! But Styx did not seem amused by his outburst.

“She’s her own person, Hades. She might be a part of me but I gave my life up years ago- “

“Do not speak of that!” Emet-Selch hissed those words out. The anger on his face would be enough to frighten any citizen of Garlemald. 

But Styx was not a citizen of Garlemald. She had known him longer than anyone else, except for Elidibus and Lahabrea now. She was not scared of him. She never had been and she never would.

“No, you listen,” she hopped down from her seat and jabbed her finger against his leg. The image of the Emperor of Garlemald being threatened by a child who barely came to mid-shin would have been amusing to anyone else but they would be a fool to underestimate the soul residing in that body. “The girl may be a fraction of my soul but she is her own person first. You will treat her as such. I’m not like the rest of you… I never was.”

The final words were spoken with a hint of sadness and Emet-Selch felt his chest tighten again.

“It is taking too much for me to talk to you like this and I do not know how much longer I can keep this up.”

“Tell me what you need then!” He interrupted her, kneeling down to be closer to her height. He was so much taller than her in these forms. "How can I help?"

“You can not help, Hades,” she smiled sadly at him. “This girl is Blessed by the Light.”

At that, Emet-Selch sneered, “As if that’s a blessing.”

A small hand smacked his knee. "Hush!" Her voice was harsh but the look in her eyes let him know she was joking. "She is destined for great things. Her and the others with her gifts. Our World is gone, my friend, let this child and others like her-"

"No!" He snapped, his hand clenching. "They do no not deserve this star. The girl does not-"

“Your opinion here does not matter, mine does,” Styx interrupted him harshly. Then her expression shifted back to a much softer one. Her hands came up to cup his face, her small hands warm against his skin. It was the kindest touch he had felt in years. “Treat us well, Hades.”

The small body went slack like a marionette with its strings cut.

Emet-Selch quickly caught the girl, just in time so her head did not hit the ground. He continued kneeling there, Mororo’s head cupped in his hands, as he stared at and studied her face. 

All traces of Styx had left and she appeared to be sleeping now.

He sighed. 

Schooling his expression, he stood and walked over to the door and out into the small living area he shared with his wife. She was busy at this time a day which was why he had chosen to have that… conversation just then.

He laid her down on the couch, letting it seem like she had fallen asleep there naturally before he took a seat in a chair across the room and began looking through reports. 

With a flick of his wrist, the barrier around the rooms disappeared and Emet-Selch was gone and Solus zos Galvus, Emperor of Garlemald, returned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> styx's relationship with the conviction members was: that one neighbor in college who lived next to you when you were in middle school who you thought was really cool and all the adults loved but now they cant come over because they have too many embarrassing stories about you and you'd rather die than let anyone hear them.


	3. like smoke

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> different times and points of view

The girl had become a fixture at the Emperor’s side. 

She spent most of her time sitting on the edge of the throne or on the floor beside it, either listening as well as a child of four could or playing with whatever small toys the Emperor had seen fit to give her. Her green hair, wild and vivid, stood out against the darkness of her surroundings and her clothes. She wore black and red, as befitting a royal child of Garlemald, with gold accents to make her match her new patron. 

“Her name was Mororo, her mother dead and her father now assisting with the Meteor Project,” the servants whispered. "Her father was invaluable in helping the Empire and her protection was the one thing he had asked for."

Of course, those facts had nothing to do with the reason that Solus had spirited her away. But the promise of his daughter’s safety, one secured by the Emperor himself, guaranteed the help of her father and helped in other matters so Solus didn’t mind the rumors. They were, after all, nowhere near the worst things ever said about the Emperor. 

But the real reason was for him and the girl alone. 

No one would believe it anyways. 

After a time, all anyone knew is that she seemed safe, content in her new life, and the Emperor himself was happier than people had seen in years ... not since his oldest son had died. 

And so, life continued on. A small shadow now wandering the palace’s halls. 

\- 

Zenos was fascinated by his Great Grandfather’s new shadow. 

The child was rarely away from him, either in his arms or toddling after him. She never said much, hardly even spoke even when spoken too, but she was always watching. Her eyes took in everything, seeing and understanding more than people thought she did. The others, except for the Emperor of course, underestimated her because she was so young and was not a pure-blooded Garlean. 

But he knew. 

In the years after she had joined them, he had begun to see the child farther and farther away from the Emperor. He'd be on his way to his studies and turn a corner only to find her hiding in a doorway. She was listening to conversations people thought she wouldn’t understand. His eyes would always meet hers and she would smile up at him, a toothy grin taking up most of her face, before she took off. She might have slipped into the shadows with how people would look right over her. Her small stature, made even worse by her young age, helped her. 

This had happened multiple times and she always got away with it.

She knew her strengths and you could say he admired that. 

At his age, already nine years old, he had hardly ever been showed attention by the Emperor (or any. Solus vos Galvus did not shower his family with love or praise or anything of the sort. Zenos knew this) but the same could not be said for her.

He did not care. 

He did not need a family’s love to be strong. 

But he was curious. What was so special about the girl? He knew she came from Ala Mhigo, a land recently come under their control, and knew her parents were not in her life any more. They were nothing special: a scholar studying the Allagans and member of the Fists of Rhalgr who had died before the city was even attacked. But none of that made would explain why the Emperor had been looking for her. Why he continued to 'dote' on her...

The servants were dull and even his own family had started to believe the rumors. No one was more confused than they were and time had not helped the matter. Though he rarely saw his father and spent little time with any other members, he knew they were troubled. He did not care. 

It was a mystery but he had more important matters to focus on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this certainly took a while (and it's short anyways, oops) but yall know how life can be.  
> I will say this story will mostly just be short vignettes because I'm rusty and have to get back on my feet.  
> I'd also like to thank those who have commented, they mean a lot to me and I'm sorry for not responding.


End file.
